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Never Really Over
| format = * Digital download * streaming | recorded = | genre = Electropop | length = | label = Capitol | writer = * Katy Perry * Dagny Sandvik * Michelle Buzz * Jason Gill * Gino Barletta * Hayley Warner * Anton Zaslavski * Leah Haywood * Daniel James | producer = * Zedd * Dreamlab | prev_title = Con Calma (Remix) | prev_year = 2019 | misc = }} }} "Never Really Over" is a song by American singer Katy Perry. It was released as a single through Capitol Records on May 31, 2019. The electropop track is inspired by Norwegian singer Dagny's song "Love You Like That". Commercially, "Never Really Over" has charted within the top 10 in Australia, Canada, Hungary, Israel, and Scotland as well as the top 20 in Ireland, Malaysia, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovenia, the United Kingdom, and the United States in addition to the top 30 in Austria, Belgium, the Czech Republic, Latvia, Norway, and Switzerland. Promotion and release On May 27, 2019, Universal Music Group first hinted towards a new project when a few selected fans were invited to a "Katy Perry Fan Event" that took place two days later. Perry announced the song and revealed the official artwork on her Instagram on May 28. Its cover shows her with blonde hair and wearing an orange dress. The song was made available for pre-save on Spotify upon announcement. Good Morning America teased the song and the music video on May 30, 2019 before its release the following day. Composition "Never Really Over" is an electropop song that contains a house beat. Perry co-wrote the song with Dagny, Michelle Buzz, Jason Gill, Gino Barletta, Hayley Warner, and its producers Leah Haywood and Daniel James of Dreamlab as well as Zedd. The track is inspired by Dagny's 2017 song "Love You Like That" and runs for 3 minutes and 44 seconds. It is performed in the key of A major with a tempo of 100 beats per minute. Tunebat|website=tunebat.com|access-date=2019-06-01}} Critical reception Pitchfork editor Jillian Mapes gave a very favorable review for "Never Really Over". She felt it was "a promising way forward" and wrote the song had "ticking clocks, piano chords recalling "Baba O'Riley", a drumline, a synth-y chorus worthy of a CRJ banger". Mapes also hailed it as Perry's best release since "Walking on Air" from 2013. Jael Goldfine of Paper praised the influence of Haim and Carly Rae Jepsen on the main production of the track. He described the overall song as a "euphoric breakup anthem" and commended its "ousing, explosively catchy chorus" and "choppy, funky synths and self-harmonization". Writing for Los Angeles Times, Mikael Wood saw the musical influence of ASMR culture and complimented the overall production of the track. He described the lyrics as "willfully imprecise" and noted that Perry's vocals were "carefully reverbed". In a review for The A.V. Club, Gwen Ihant praised the lyrics and felt the song had "an impressive showcase for Perry's powerful pop vocals". Mike Wass of Idolator called "Never Really Over" a "song of the summer contender", praising the use of Dagny's 2017 song "Love You Like That", and also noted that the song "feels like a natural progression from Witness rather than a step back." Patrick Ryan of USA Today complimented the "pulsing Zedd-produced breakup anthem" as her "best new song in years." Toby Knapp of iHeartRadio concluded that "Never Really Over" was the right decision for the musical return of Perry, by saying, "This song is so desperately needed right now on music radio stations which haven't had some form of what I'd call a pure-pop-down-the-middle song like this for a while." Hugh McIntyre of Forbes noted that the song "stands out in today's musical landscape while not pushing anyone too far into uncharted territory" and "could help vault Perry back to her former glory." Craig Jenkins of Vulture also felt "Never Really Over" was a "slight return to the motivational fare Katy Perry's best at." He also hailed Perry's vocal performance as "more confident and challenging". Robin Murray from Clash called the song a "bold, colourful return". Editors of Billboard also had a discussion about "Never Really Over". Eric Frankenberg said that it "calls back to Perry's Teenage Dream-era hits in sound, but is more 'The One That Got Away' than 'California Gurls' in aesthetic and lyrical content." Gab Ginsberg saw "definite Prism vibes" in the track and felt it had "a nice chill factor from 'Wide Awake'". Jason Lipshutz said, "the mix of the driving electro-pop and contemplative tone resembles 'Part of Me' most closely". As to the motivation of the song, Eric Frankenberg considered the song to be one about "being haunted by memories of an ex-lover". Commercial performance "Never Really Over" opened at number 10 on the Global Spotify charts with 2.83 million streams surpassing the 2.65 million that her song "Chained To The Rhythm" logged on its number 10 debut on Global Spotify dated February 10, 2017. The track entered at number 15 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 with 31,000 downloads and 15.8 million streams, giving Perry her 19th top 20 song in the country. "Never Really Over" also became her highest debut on the chart since "Chained To The Rhythm" in 2017 as well as her fifth highest entrance there overall. In the United Kingdom, the song opened at number 13, becoming Perry's 19th top 20 entry in the nation and has since reached number 12. It opened at number four in Scotland and number 47 in Germany. Elsewhere, "Never Really Over" debuted at number seven on Australia's ARIA Singles Chart and at number 19 in New Zealand. Music video A music video, directed by Philippa Price, was released along with the single on May 31, 2019. On May 29, 2019, Perry shared a teaser for the music video with the caption "Let it go..." Reception Sal Cinquemani of Slant Magazine praised the style and cinematography of the music video. He called it "a playful and imaginative portrayal of love's intoxicating spell and the lengths some of us will go to exorcise ourselves of it." The video has been noted for its cultural references to hippie era and artistic similarities to New Age symbolism. Suzy Byrne of Yahoo! noted the video's spiritual themes and called Perry a "New Age goddess". She praised the concept and claimed that it was a "well-choreographed video". Credits and personnel Credits adapted from Tidal. *Katy Perry – vocals, songwriter *Dagny Sandvik – songwriter, credit song "Love You Like That" *Michelle Buzz – songwriter *Jason Gill – songwriter *Gino Barletta – backing vocals, songwriter *Hayley Warner – backing vocals, songwriter *Zedd – songwriter, producter, programmer, mixing engineer, studio personnel *Leah Haywood – backing vocals, songwriter, producer, programmer *Daniel James – songwriter, producer, programmer *Ryan Shanahan – recording engineer, additional mixing engineer, studio personnel *Brian Cruz – assistant recording engineer, studio personnel *Dave Kutch – mastering engineer, studio personnel Charts Certifications Release history References Category:2019 singles Category:2019 songs Category:Katy Perry songs Category:Songs written by Katy Perry Category:Songs written by Zedd Category:Songs written by Hayley Warner Category:Songs written by Jason Gill Category:Songs written by Leah Haywood Category:Songs written by Daniel James (record producer) Category:Capitol Records singles